Childhood Hunger in America

Mellow Mushroom is currently running a cause marketing promotion through social media channels related to the 2015 Masters Tournament and reigning champion, Bubba Watson.

Watson is currently on a diet of daily burritos in an effort to keep with his own culinary tradition that led him to win the event past year. However, Watson has publicly expressed his love for Mellow Mushroom pizza as well. The Masters takes place in Augusta, Ga., and there are several Mellow Mushrooms in the area, including Augusta, Evans, and Aiken, SC.

Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers is asking reigning Masters Champion, Bubba Watson to take a break from burritos and have some pizza, all to help end childhood hunger in America. Mellow Mushroom is encouraging social media fans to help a post reach 10,000 “likes,” comments, shares or retweets the message by April 13.

In return, Mellow Mushroom will donate $5,000 to Share Our Strength, and should Bubba make an appearance at a Mellow Mushroom from April 6 to April 13, Mellow will kick in an additional $5,000 to Share Our Strength for a total of $10,000. A donation of this size will help connect hungry children across America with 100,000 healthy meals.

No child should grow up hungry in America, but one in five children struggles with hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending child hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

Little Stomach and The Budget 

"As Congress and the President draft legislation this year to reauthorize vital child nutrition programs, we applaud the President for once again providing robust funding for federal nutrition programs in his FY2016 budget.

“Our food banks understand the critical need for federal hunger-relief programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and various child nutrition programs, all of which help millions of struggling Americans put food on the table.

“We are, however, disappointed that the president's budget again calls for limiting charitable deductions for individual taxpayers, a recommendation that numerous independent studies have shown to cause declines in charitable giving.  

"The Feeding America network is funded primarily by private donations and, at a time when our food bank network is feeding more than 46 million people a year, any loss of funding could substantially affect our ability to provide food to people in need.

“We are also disappointed that the budget does not request the full amount needed and authorized to store and distribute TEFAP commodities at food banks. This chronic under-funding often forces our food banks to divert funding for food purchases to cover the shortfall. 

“At a time when so many of our neighbors continue to struggle, we must ensure food banks have the resources to meet need in their communities.

"We will continue to work with our supporters in Congress and other hunger-relief advocates to make sure we protect important programs and ensure that all of our neighbors have enough food to eat."

o> Bob Aiken, CEO of Feeding America

o> Edited by Anibal Ibarra